Short Stories

An Unexpected Greeting

by Stephen Wong
07/22/18
Not For Sale
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After finishing some morning chores and eating a light lunch, Ned slumped down into his favourite seat and stared at the clock. It was exactly 1 pm on a Saturday afternoon. Ned picked up a book to read, it was his normal weekend afternoon activity. He would usually read for a few hours before taking a nap. This would be followed by dinner and then a quiet night in front of the television. Sunday would pass the same way. This was how Ned spent every weekend. He bought all of his groceries online so he didn’t need to visit the shops often. He never went out to visit friends. He lived alone and kept to himself.

Ned had always been an outsider. Growing up, he hadn’t been particularly smart or good-looking. He didn’t seem to have any special talents and never stood out at school. He always had a hard time trying to make friends. The other boys always made fun of his short height and awkward pimples.  

Things began to change when Sarah came along. She was not like anybody Ned had met before. She understood Ned like nobody else could, she understood his loneliness, and she loved him. Not long after they were married, Ellie was born. She had been a bright child. She was always full of joy, always full of life. She had been popular at school and excelled in all her subjects. Everyone agreed that Ellie had a bright future. Watching her growing up had been the happiest time of Ned’s life.

Then all of a sudden Ned ’s happiness had come to an end. It happened one stormy night when Sarah had been driving Ellie home from a birthday party. They had been travelling around a sharp bend. The car must have been travelling slightly too fast. It skidded off the wet road and smashed into a tree. Neither the driver nor the passenger made it.

After this incident things changed for Ned. He stopped smiling. He withdrew from all social events. He hardly spoke to anyone. He stopped answering the phone. He rarely left the house anymore unless it was for work or some other errand. Of course, Ned’s friends and workmates had been supportive during this time, but Ned was never the same again. It was like something had died inside of him.

When Ned eventually retired, he became even more isolated. Now he had even less reason to leave the house every day and over time he began to lose contact with nearly all of his friends. Even his closest friends he hardly ever saw. They had their own families to take care of and their own lives to live. For the most part, this didn’t seem to bother Ned. He had grown accustomed to being alone. Several times he had even considered buying a pet, but he figured taking care of one would be too much trouble. He could now pass the days doing whatever he wanted. Life was simple. He didn’t have to worry about anyone else’s problems anymore.       

It came as a surprise to Ned when he suddenly heard three knocks on the door. At first, he thought that perhaps a bird was tapping on the roof, but then he heard three more louder knocks. It was clearly coming from the front door. Who would want to be visiting him? People hardly knocked at his door. Ned had deliberately placed a no knocking sticker outside to ward off any eager salesmen, and he hardly ever talked to any of the neighbours. The only other possible visitors Ned could think of were the occasional Jehovah’s Witnesses, but even they hadn’t showed up in the neighbourhood for a long time. Normally Ned would have ignored these knocks, but for some reason on this particular occasion he was too curious for that. After being left alone for so long, someone had finally decided to come visit. He wanted to at least see what they looked like.

Ned put down the book he had been reading and tiptoed to the living room window. Peeking out he saw a man, a woman and a young girl. The woman was carrying some kind of dish. They didn’t look like anybody who lived in the neighbourhood. Perhaps they had come to visit family or friends and had shown up at the wrong door. Since Ned had already taken the trouble to get out of the chair where he had been sitting so comfortably, he decided to save this family the trouble of finding directions by opening the door and pointing them to the right house.

As Ned was opening the door, he imagined seeing the surprised or embarrassed expressions on the faces of the family when they would realise they had come to the wrong door. Instead he was greeted by three friendly, smiling faces.

 “Hello there, neighbour”, said the man. He quickly introduced himself and his family. The couple had previously been Christian missionaries working in India. They had moved into the house next door a couple of weeks ago with their young daughter. Ned hadn’t noticed. He didn’t leave the house often these days and never had an interest in prying on neighbours’ business.

“Uh hi… I’m Ned,” he replied. Talking to these people felt almost foreign. It had been a while since Ned had met anyone new. From the looks of the couple, Ned guessed that they were quite young, the man and woman were probably still in their late twenties. Strangely Ned felt an odd connection with the woman. Perhaps it was because she had a similar height and the same coloured eyes and hair that Ellie had. Ellie would have been around her age if she were still alive.

“We made this for you. I hope you like apple pie,” the woman said. Still smiling, she handed Ned the dish she had been holding. Apple pie was Ned’s favourite.

Normally Ned would have refused offers of charity, but there was something about the woman’s smile that was warm and comforting. It made Ned’s normally firm demeanour start to loosen up. Wary of insulting the woman, Ned thanked her and accepted the gift.

“Do you live here with your family?” asked the man.

“No, I don’t have any other family. I’m just here by myself,” Ned replied casually. 

“Well Ned, how would you like to come over to our house for lunch tomorrow? We would love to get to know you more,” the woman asked.

At first Ned was unsure how to respond. It had been a while since someone had invited him over to their house. There was something about this couple’s invitation though. They seemed to genuinely care about Ned and want to get to know him. Something about their warmth was contagious.

“Okay, I’m free tomorrow,” Ned replied.

“Great,” said the woman, “why don’t you come over at 12?”

As Ned was closing the door he felt more light and cheerful. Suddenly it seemed like tomorrow was going to be a good day. He couldn’t remember the last time he looked forward to spending some quality time with someone.